Information processing systems, which handle ever increasing amounts of data, require processing devices that have the ability to compact and decompact data while maintaining data integrity. Further, the control and sequencing of the processing generally requires extensive hardware to insure that the maximum efficiency is obtained in the distribution of the data to each processing device.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a simplified hardware for the data integrity control of the splitting and merging of a data stream through multiple parallel processing units.
Formerly, data integrity was maintained in data compression systems through the use of redundant devices. The outputs of each would be compared and, if different another pass would be made through the circuity. This was inefficient and even though the results of both encoders were compared, there was no assurance that the compacted data could be decoded and retrieved.
Another method of maintaining data integrity is to provide a byte-by-byte comparison of the original data to the decompacted data from the decoder after a retrieve cycle. But this procedure requires waiting until after the data is retrieved before the error is uncovered and much too late to reconstruct the data. The integrity of the data is known, but recovery from the error becomes from difficult to impossible.
It is, therefore, another object of the present invention to provide a data integrity control for compacted data.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a data integrity control for compacted data that knows that the compacted data can be decompacted when required.